B CORP MONTH 2025: CELEBRATING WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A B CORP

It’s B Corp Month! Every March, B Corps (including us!) celebrate what it means to be part of this global movement to make business a force for good. To become a Certified B Corp, companies are assessed to check they meet B Lab’s high standards in five key areas: Governance, Workers, Community, Environment and Customers. With that in mind, our Sustainability Director, Laura Ford, reflects on what we’ve been achieving recently across the five areas. 

Governance

 In 2022, we became the first company in the world to appoint Nature to our Board of Directors. We spent the initial two years of Nature On the Board (NOTB) working with our first Nature Guardian, Brontie Ansell of Lawyers for Nature. With her, we introduced a groundbreaking new governance structure that gave the natural world a voice and a vote in our decision-making process (and inspired other organisations to do the same).

 Last summer, we were joined by our second Nature Guardian: Dr Juliet Rose, Head of Development at Eden Project. Juliet’s background is in plant science, horticulture and strategic environmental management planning for degraded land. With her, we’re focused on embedding Nature-based decision-making and Nature connectedness in everything we do. By Nature connectedness, we mean helping our colleagues feel more connected to the natural world – starting with the planning of green spaces at our new factory site. Connecting with Nature not only helps wellbeing, but means people are more likely to care about the natural world and want to protect it.

Workers

Behind the products on your shelves at home is a whole team of dedicated people. We want our workplace to be one where all those people feel their space is safe, their skills are needed and that their contribution to a wider purpose is valued. 

 In 2022, we conducted an equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) review and last year, we reviewed our HR provision. Now, we’re starting to see the benefits of those reviews and we’re currently in the process of launching new benefits packages for employees. We’re also working to align with the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter, a voluntary membership and assessment scheme aimed at improving employment standards.

Community

We work with several charity partners that benefit communities around the world. Every order placed through our website helps restore Nature via our partnership with TreeSisters – and we balance our unavoidable carbon emissions through the World Land Trust. As Sumatran Orangutan Society (SOS) Pioneers, we invest in their Rewild Fund – helping to protect and rehabilitate rainforests that are vital not only to endangered orangutans, but to millions of people. The organic shea butter and organic argan oil we use in our formulations both help support women’s cooperatives in Ghana and Morocco, respectively.

Closer to home, we buy the 100% renewable solar energy that powers our factory from Energy Garden, a Community Benefit Society that helps people living in urban communities to access Nature. We have a long-standing partnership with InKind Direct, donating products with packaging imperfections to those in need. Recently, we began donating those products to charities in our local area, including food banks, women’s refuges and homeless hostels.

Environment

Our work to do more with less continues. Last financial year, we saw a fall in our Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon footprints. We increased the total use of recycled plastic in our packaging from 71% to 79%, reduced our overall waste and started to look at the impact of the water table on our supply chain. 

We’re focused on driving change through our supplier chain, which means looking carefully at our suppliers’ impact on the environment (and what they’re doing to minimise it), as well as our own. In our 2023-2024 Impact Report, you can read the first data from our supplier benchmarking exercise. Findings include that 80% of our suppliers are monitoring their waste, whilst 52% of them are already monitoring their water use. 

Customers

That’s you! Since Rivka started the company in 1974, our mission has been to make it easier for people to make better choices for themselves and the planet, every day. That means using the best quality ingredients we can whilst keeping our prices accessible. We continue to offer our extra value refill packs, which help reduce plastic waste. If refilling at home isn’t for you, just look for the QR code on the back of our bottles – and scan it to locate your nearest refill store.

 In 2024, we celebrated our 50^th birthday with the launch of the first product evolutions to be voted on by our Nature Guardian. Our liquid haircare, hand wash and body wash were upgraded to include more active naturals, with the addition of our base blends of organic active natural ingredients. Previously 99% natural origin, these products are now 99.5% natural origin. We also introduced our new, 100% recycled and infinitely recyclable aluminium bottles, which can be refilled or recycled, forever – making it easy for you to reduce your plastic waste. Here’s to the next 50 years of our continuing mission!

 Read more about the work we’re doing for people and the planet in our 2023-2024 Impact Report. Find out more about B Corps here. 

If you liked this, you might enjoy…

We’re a B Corp! But What is a B Corp?

Why We Don’t Have a Scope 2 Carbon Footprint: Our Partnership with Energy Garden

More Than Just Planting Trees: Every Order Helps Restore Nature With TreeSisters